The dateline is the line at the beginning of a press release, right before the first paragraph, that states the city and date of the announcement. It follows the format "CITY, Country, Month Day, Year" in all caps for the city. Example: "PARIS, France, April 12, 2026."
The dateline tells journalists two things at a glance: where the news originates and when it was released. It is a standard element of every press release and should always appear.
Dateline format rules
- City in all caps, followed by country (except for major cities like PARIS, LONDON, NEW YORK, TOKYO where country is optional in local releases)
- Full month name, day and four-digit year
- Separated from the first sentence by an em space or a dash (in digital releases, a plain dash works)
- Always uses the release date, not the writing date
Related terms
- Press Release - A formal written statement distributed to media outlets to announce something newsworthy about a company or organization.
- Boilerplate - A short, standardized paragraph at the end of a press release that describes the company.
- Lede - The opening paragraph of a press release or news story, designed to summarize the essential facts.
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